Politics

You Wouldn’t Get a Carpool

Written by Joan Flanagan

My book club was recently discussing the ways people avoid talking about problems. One woman said that her daughter, who is Jewish, was being shown homes in several suburbs of Chicago. Her realtor would steer her away from listings in towns that would not welcome a Jewish family by saying, “You wouldn’t get a carpool there.” This meant that Mrs. Goldberg would not be able to find 3-4 other mothers who would be want her children in their carpool. Obviously “You wouldn’t get a carpool there,” sounds better than “People in that town are prejudiced again Jewish people.”

Immigration

A New Vision for American Radicalism

Written by Guest Blogger

By Joel Olson

I’m a member of the Repeal Coalition, a group building a grassroots campaign to repeal all anti-immigration laws in Arizona. In the process, we are trying to build an alternative politics of immigration. Rather than the nativists’ attempt to hate, harass, and blame all undocumented people and their allies for all of Arizona’s woes (and we’ve got a lot of woes right now), we insist on the right for all people to live, love, and work anywhere you please, regardless of documentation.

Politics

Sixty Black Leaders Condemn Sheriff Arpaio

Written by Eric Ward

Blacks in the United States have long been a guiding conscience in our nation. Unlike many social movements which focus on narrow policy goals, the social gains that Blacks struggle for tend to be broad-minded and expansive. The 1960s Civil Rights Movement for instance lifted many Americans of various races, ethnicities and nationalities up out of poverty and stifling segregation. It was this very Civil Rights Movement that strengthened, at least for a time, the social safety net that provided publicly funded pre-school and breakfast programs for our most vulnerable youth.

Politics

Haiti Cannot Wait: an Open Letter to President Obama

Written by James E. Johnson Jr.

Dear President Obama,

Haitians should not be made to wait any longer for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). You’ve been in office for nearly a year, which provided ample time for your administration sign off on TPS for Haitians. As the U.S. continues to delay temporary protected status for Haitians the situation in Haiti becomes direr.

Yesterday’s earthquake is just the latest disaster the people of Haiti have suffered in the last few years. In August and September of 2008, Haiti was hit by four consecutive hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) which killed over 800 people, displaced tens of thousands of Haitians and devastated the Haitian economy. If there was ever a country which fit… Read more

Change We Can Believe in. When?

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

The Democratic Congress and the Obama Administration have wasted political capital this past year in a manner that makes Wall Street losses look like child’s play.

Democrats—infamous for circling up, loading up, and firing at one other—are on the verge of perfecting the art of self-destruction. Senate Dems are particularly adept at imploding, unable to impose Party discipline in a circle where every Senator’s vote is crucial. The sordid deal cut with Ben Nelson for his support of the health care bill (his vote for millions of additional Medicaid funds for Nebraska) is but one example. This week the revelation of repugnant remarks by Harry Reid about (“Negro”) candidate Obama underscored his own… Read more

Politics

American Law Enforcement Must Demand the Removal of Sheriff Arpaio from Duty

Written by Guest Blogger

By Detective Alix Olson, Madison Police Department, Wisconsin

In my 29-year career as a police officer and detective with the Madison Police Department, in Madison, Wisconsin, I have witnessed and experienced many instances of hatred, violence and racism. In most cases, those negative things were not initiated by law enforcement; sometimes, unfortunately, they were. The 95% of us who sincerely strive to “serve and protect” are tarnished by the 5% of us who intentionally “disserve and destroy.” Nowhere is this more apparent in current American law enforcement than in Maricopa County, Arizona, where Sheriff Joe Arpaio has taken the law into his own hands, at the expense of the Constitution, professional ethics, and proper police… Read more

Immigration

Melancholy for the Holidays

Written by Axel Fuentes

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year for a lot of people but also the most nostalgic, melancholic, and difficult for others. With a beer in his hand and a sad expression on his face, Juan, an immigrant worker from Honduras said, “Cuanto daría por estar con mi familia en estos días” (“How much I would give to be with my family on this day”). Unfortunately, those moments are not something that you can buy with money.

Holding their hopes of some day being able to be with their families were a lot of immigrant workers, mainly single or with spouses and kids in their home countries, gathered in houses or apartments… Read more

Immigration

A Day at a North Carolina Tea Party

Written by Guest Blogger

By Deborah Austin and Cloee Cooper

As a mother, activist and community member from Durham, North Carolina of Mexican, Native American decent, I can personally attest to the racist behavior and remarks at the Tea Parties Against Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants on November 14, 2009. Why is this an important story to share months later? Among many people I know, the white nationalist agenda of today’s anti-immigrant movement is hard to understand. Not surprising considering the debate we see unfolding in our media surrounding immigration.

I have been following our nation’s debate closely with the immigration reform bill that Gutierrez recently introduced and the upcoming bill that Schumer intends to introduce. But honestly, how… Read more

Health

Factory Farmed Meat Can Trigger a Global Pandemic

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Kathy Freston AlterNet posted this article on the dangers of the factory-farmed meat industry. As we’ve discussed before on this blog, the low-wage workers at meat plants are often the most vulnerable to a health hazard and also the first line of defense for the general public.

The chicken and pork industries have wrought unprecedented changes in bird and swine flu. Billions could die in a deadly flu pandemic, the likes of which we have never seen.

I was intrigued (and disturbed) by a book I just read online — www.BirdFluBook.org — by Michael Greger, M.D. about the potential of a deadly flu pandemic, the likes of which we have never seen. Greger

… Read more

Crosspost: Is Whole Foods Bad for the Planet?

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Kate Sheppard wrote a revealing article this week in Mother Jones about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. As if the previous news about Mackey’s positions on heath care and labor weren’t bad enough, now we come to find out his ideas on global warming don’t quite square with Whole Foods’ squeaky green image.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has probably brought more people to organic foods than anyone else in the United States. And many of the folks shopping at his markets undoubtedly consider themselves to be environmentally aware. They might even believe that by purchasing their groceries at Whole Foods outlets they are doing their part to help the planet.

… Read more